This is a Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)
Statistical First Release (SFR), published by the Data Service. It shows
information on learner participation and achievement for post-16
education from 2005/06 to 2009/10, as well provisional data for the
first three quarters of 2010/11. It includes information from the Labour
Force Survey on the level of highest qualification held in England, and
information on vocational qualifications awarded in the United Kingdom

The Data Service also holds an
archive of previous editions of the Post-16 Education and Skills
release.

An external review of the format, content and timing of post-16 learning
SFRs was conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers in September 2007. More
information on the SFR Review can be found on the Data Service website
(link above). A key recommendation of the review was to move to
publishing an SFR once every quarter, covering the range of
government-funded learning.
Having been through an annual cycle of quarterly publications, we have
conducted a small review of the timing and presentation of the Release.
This is to ensure that the timing of the SFR is best aligned with when
further education data becomes available, and to ensure that the
presentation of statistics is relevant to any new policies introduced.

This publication covers the Future Jobs Fund, Community Task Force,
Routes into Work (Pre Employment Training), and Work Focused Training
strands. This is a joint statistical publication between the Department
for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Department for Business, Innovation and
Skills (BIS) and the Scottish Government.

The Six Month Offer was announced in January 2009 as a support package
for Jobseekerís Allowance customers reaching six months unemployment.
The Six Month Offer was introduced nationally from the 6th April 2009.
There are four strands to the Six Month Offer: (1) Recruitment Subsidy,
(2) Self Employment, (3) Volunteering and (4) Work Focused Training.

This is a joint statistical publication between the Department for Work
and
Pensions (DWP), the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)
and the Scottish Government.